Category Archives: Australia

Silo Art

Posted on 5 August 2023 by sheg4184

Many years ago, we drove across the central plains of Canada, following the railway in an almost straight line from the rim of Shoal Lake to the Rocky Mountains. For almost two thousand kilometres, through Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, much … Continue reading →

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Winter Frost & Saperavi

Posted on 27 July 2023 by sheg4184

‘For we are the new nomads, the twentieth century, who wander the earth with trailing roots, our possessions portable, our dwellings temporary.’ ~ Charmian Clift And lo! We are finally on the road again, aboard our trusty VW Camper, Barney. … Continue reading →

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Arthur Boyd: The Life of St. Francis

Posted on 4 July 2023 by sheg4184

Last weekend, we spent a damp but utterly undreary weekend wandering through North Adelaide, dodging the odd shower, exploring blue plaques on the front gates of 19th century and early 20th century homes, dipping into quirky coffee shops, strolling along … Continue reading →

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Comfort Food

Posted on 26 June 2023 by sheg4184

“Eating is the only thing that consoles me.” ~ Oscar Wilde, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest.’ Here in South Australia, winter has brought with it a deluge of rain and some unexpectedly chilly weather. As we shiver and quake through … Continue reading →

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A Final Glimpse of Tasmania, Past, Present and Bucolic

Posted on 3 March 2023 by sheg4184

‘Scrimshaw.’ My favourite new word for the week. What is scrimshaw? A character from Harry Potter perhaps? No, not quite. That was Rufus Scrimgeour, I believe. Scrimshaw is, in fact, the art of engraving images on objects made from whale … Continue reading →

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The Joy of Cheese

Posted on 18 February 2023 by sheg4184

“Dessert without cheese is like a beauty with only one eye” ~ Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin When we first visited Tasmania, back in the late eighties, it was known as a destination for serious hikers, those keen to explore the wilderness … Continue reading →

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‘A Pack of Thieves’

Posted on 13 February 2023 by sheg4184

Port Arthur. Today, it is an hour and a half’s drive from the pretty, waterside city of Hobart. Two hundred years ago, it was a day’s sailing from the decidedly seedy and often violent waterfront of Hobart Town, which had … Continue reading →

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Wildlife Among the Gumtrees

Posted on 3 February 2023 by sheg4184

‘Give me a home among the gumtrees, with lots of plum trees, a sheep or two, a kangaroo, a  clothesline out the back, verandah out the front, and an old rocking chair’  – John Williamson Craggy Peaks. An old golf … Continue reading →

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Return to Tasmania

Posted on 25 January 2023 by sheg4184

This summer, we finally realized a dream of long-standing: to return to Tasmania. You may remember that I wrote about my first visit in the late 1980s, when the One & Only took me on a trek to Frenchman’s Cap? … Continue reading →

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“Core of my heart, my country!”

Posted on 28 December 2022 by sheg4184

An opal-hearted country,A wilful lavish land –All you who have not loved her,You will not understand –Though earth has many splendours,Wherever I may day,I know to what brown countryMy homing thoughts will fly. For many Australians, the words of poet … Continue reading →

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